Youth and experience lost to grit and pensioner determination to see an aging Holkham side nearly beaten by a very useful WNCC. With four players under the under 16 and some senior pro’s we nearly did it. Winning the toss and putting them in Holkham crumbled to 214 all out.
Some would have said that they had seen the last great Hammond innings for West Norfolk. Walter and Harry sired five daughters – not one has taken to cricket; and whilst Wally had hit numerous big innings, it was Harry who finally emerged from the shadows of his big brother to hit a fluid half century in front of his fan club. His Dad was dumbstruck with disbelief we had not made him open before.
There was another wise owl in the team, who proved to be the thorn in Holkham’s batting performance. Eddie Thorne, no less, was taken off after two overs and told to think seriously about his line, length and general attitude. Dressed down by the skipper, he found some new fire in his belly – or realised the hatch was starting to creak open. Four overs produced seven wickets.
However, the stars of our show where the youth and debutants who all participated on one level or another and will hopefully go on to play more games for WN in the future. At the older end of the scale was Ed Kenyon whos batting outshone his bowling, opening with Harry Hammond with a quick 27.
Ned Coke played his first game and looked comfortable at the crease. He hit some nice shots and shows promise beyond the runs he scored. Edward Stanton, one of the youngest from that stable, showed his dad how spinners could be winners with some nice bowling and some powerful shots – stantonesque in his ease with the bat. Olly Holden failed to contribute with the bat, but bowled seam-up and took a good catch of Richard Thompson at backward point. And finally, Harry Thompson who took a wicket with his first ball, bamboozeling Richard Williams with his first ball for WN to claim a wicket. The jury is still out whether he is a left hand off spinner – wikipedia say “Left Arm Unothodox”:
- Off break – Right-handed with finger spin technique. (e.g. Muttiah Muralitharan, Saqlain Mushtaq)
- Left-arm orthodox spin – Left-handed with finger spin technique. (e.g. Daniel Vettori)
- Leg break – Right-handed with wrist spin technique. (e.g. Shane Warne)
- Left-arm unorthodox spin – Left-handed with wrist spin technique. (e.g. Brad Hogg)
I am glad that debate is over!
Harry Hammond and James Holden then went on to put a hundred partnership before Hammond retired at 50. The plan has been for James to retire at 50 – but no one clapped it – however after a couple of clapping chances by Holkham finally he was put out of his misery on 75. Despite a dashing 16 from Ben Stanton we ran out of time to hit the winning runs end on 209 for 9 – a moral victory on so many levels!
